Hi I am new here I made my own incubator out of old mini frindge I ran 2 batches of my own eggs the incubator holds 50 eggs the first go around I got one that hatched the rest never hatched upon further examination over half the eggs were completely formed chickens just didn't hatch I thought possibly a humidity thing because I never had a gauge so the second batch I added extra water and it a gauge the humidity level was 80-85 one chick out of all the eggs made a little hole but never got out I tried to help it but it was to late again all the way formed but none hatched ?so I need some ideas of what could be going wrong thanks
If you are running 80-85% humidity for the whole hatch they will drown. That's way too high. Even though most hatchers will debate what humidity is better for the first 17 days of incubation till they are blue in the face, most will agree that 60+ for the first 17 days is high. I do dry hatch and monitor my eggs air cells the first 17 days then shoot for 75% for lockdown and hatch. If you monitor the air cells you will know whether your eggs are getting the right amount of humidity and can adjust them if they aren't.